ReviewCam: LendingClub's Online Financing

LendingClub offers an online service that lets borrowers borrow, and lets investors invest in that borrowing. We sat down with LendingClub CEO Renaud Laplanche to get a demonstration of this fascinating model.

Fritz Nelson, Vice President, Editorial Director InformationWeek Business Technology Network

October 21, 2009

2 Min Read

The service is pretty simple -- borrows apply for loans just as they would in a conventional loan process, entering an amount and providing some personal information. Credit history is checked as it would normally be with any credit application. Their interest rate is determined by their credit profile.

Investors can create an aggregated portfolio based on their risk appetite, as measured by the data from the creditors. There are some really easy-to-use tools that let the investor get pretty specific about what risk they are comfortable with, and then they can watch their investments over time.

LendingClub is regulated on the investor side by the SEC and on the borrower's side by the FDIC. The company has 300,000 members, and has issued $60 million in loans. It is averaging about $1.5 million in loans a week. LendingClub takes a percentage of the transaction -- a little from both the borrower and the investor.

Fritz Nelson is an Executive Editor at InformationWeek and the Executive Producer of TechWebTV. Fritz writes about startups and established companies alike, but likes to exploit multiple forms of media into his writing.

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